In some ways the comparison isn’t relevant, as All-Stars’ main goal is to please PlayStation fans.

All-Stars brings in some of Sony’s heaviest hitters, such as God of War’s Kratos, Uncharted’s Nathan Drake and Twisted Metal’s Sweet Tooth. There’s also a few characters you wouldn’t expect to see kicking the crap out of each other. Fat Princess, from 2009’s PSN game of the same name makes an appearance, as does Parappa from the PS1 cult classic Parappa the Rapper.

Other characters include Sly Cooper and Colonel Radec, the leader of the Helghast forces in Killzone. Although he isn’t technically a PlayStation exclusive, BioShock’s Big Daddy will also be featured in the game.

So how does All-Stars play when four characters duke it out at once? The results are pretty hectic, but that’s the point isn’t it? During my E3 demo I mainly stuck to Sweet Tooth and Kratos.

Each character has three levels of super attacks. In the case of Sweet Tooth, he’s able to whip out the mechanized form of his ice cream truck and unleash a barrage of devastating attacks on other players.

After the match, players are ranked based on their performance.

Sony was showing off two game modes at E3: free for all, and 2 vs 2 team battles. The level I played in was noticeably set in the God of War universe thanks to the Hydra in the background that would occasionally swoop in and cause damage to careless players.

One of the most interesting things All-Stars does is the cross play between the PS3 and Vita versions. Someone playing the game on the Vita can play online with anyone in the world who may be on a PS3. There’s simply no differentiation between the two platforms when it comes to online play.

While at E3, I was able to use the Vita version and play opponents on the PS3 simultaneously. The interaction between the two was seamless, and the game controlled well on the handheld.

If All-Stars had only allowed a Vita to cross play with a single PS3 system I wouldn’t have been impressed, but the online functionality is really cool.

Sony is banking on All-Stars being a big holiday title for 2012, especially since other exclusives such as Last of Us have been pushed into 2013. What I played was fun, but not revolutionary. It looks like All-Stars’ success will depend on how badly PlayStation fans want a brawler featuring Sony’s most prolific characters.

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